Novartis is acquiring Avidity Biosciences in a $12 billion deal that the Swiss drugmaker said would further boost its long-term focus on treating neuromuscular disorders. The company on Sunday said it had entered into an agreement to buy Avidity, a San Diego-based biotech. Novartis won’t acquire a separate Avidity subsidiary focused on developing early-stage treatments for heart diseases. Under the deal, Avidity shareholders would receive $72 a share, a 46% premium to its Friday close. Avidity is developing gene-based drugs that use an emerging technology known as antibody oligonucleotide conjugates to deliver RNA treatment to muscles. The company is developing experimental drugs based on the technology to treat forms of muscular dystrophy, a multibillion-dollar market. The technology, according to Avidity, promises to take RNA therapies to parts of the body where older classes of drugs couldn’t reach or had trouble reaching.

The Swiss market started off on a positive note on Friday but slipped into the red around mid morning and then struggled for direction till the end with stocks swinging between gains and losses amid cautious moves by investors. The benchmark SMI settled with a small gain of 10.91 points or 0.09% at 12,568.18 after moving in a tight range between 12,532.82 and 12,597.98. Amrize climbed 3.79% after JP Morgan raised the stock's rating to 'overweight.' and raised its price target to CHF 48.2. Holcim and VAT Group gained about 2.7%. Lonza Group ended 2.2% up. Partners Group and Galderma Group ended higher by about 1.9% and 1.7%, respectively. Sandoz Group, Swiss Re, ABB, SGS, Julius Baer an Logitech International also ended notably higher. Schindler Ps tumbled more than 4%. The Swiss company now expects an operating profit margin of around 12.5% for the full year, after previously seeing it at around 12%. Schindler booked new orders worth 2.64 billion Swiss francs in the quarter, down from 2.71 billion francs a year earlier Swatch Group ended 1.27% down. Richemont lost nearly 1%, while Nestle, Geberit, Sika and Novartis closed lower by 0.4 to 0.7%.

Europe
Despite struggling for support till mid afternoon, European stocks edged higher on Friday after cooler-than-expected U.S. consumer price inflation raised prospects of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.23%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.7% and Germany's DAX edged up 0.13%, while France's CAC 40 settled flat. Switzerland's SMI crept up 0.09%. Among other markets in Europe, Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Austria, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Poland and Russia ended weak. In the UK market, Natwest Group and London Stock Exchange Group gained 4.9% and 4.8%, respectively. Tesco, Next, Polar Capital Technology Trust, 3i Group, Kingfisher, Compass Group, DCC, Phonenix Group Holdings, IMI, Diploma, Halma, Croda International, Prudential, Burberry Group and Standard Chartered gained 1.5 to 2.3%. In the German market, Siemens Energy gained about 5%. Heidelberg Materials rallied nearly 3.5%. Commerzbank, Siemens, Continental, Volkswagen, Fresenius Medical Care, Daimler Truck Holding, Deutsche Bank and BMW gained 1 to 1.7%. SAP closed lower by about 3.5%. Beiersdorf, Adidas and Deutsche Telekom lost 1 to 1.5%. In the French market, Accor climbed more than 7%. The hospitality major, which announced on Thursday that revenue per room rose 0.8% in the the third quarter to Euro 78, also said that it is evaulating the possibility of an initial public offering for the Ennismore lifestyle hotel and restaurant entity in which the company holds a major stake.

United States
Stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Friday, extending the upward move seen over the course of the previous sessions. With the continued advance, the major averages all reached new record closing highs. The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the end the day but still posted strong gains. The Dow jumped 472.51 points or 1.0 percent to 47,207.12, the Nasdaq surged 263.07 points or 1.2 percent to 23,204.87 and the S&P 500 climbed 53.25 points or 0.8 percent to 6,791.69. For the week, the S&P 500 shot up by 1.9 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 spiked by 2.2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. The rally on Wall Street came following the release of a closely watched report on consumer price inflation that increased confidence the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates in the coming months. While most U.S. economic data has been postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing government shutdown, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices increased by slightly less than expected in the month of September. The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.3 percent in September after climbing by 0.4 percent in August. Economists had expected consumer prices to rise by another 0.4 percent. Shares of Ford spiked by 12.2 percent after the auto giant reported third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Procter & Gamble also advanced by 0.9 percent after the consumer products giant reported fiscal first quarter results that exceeded expectations. Meanwhile, shares of Intel pulled back well off their early highs but still rose by 0.3 percent after the semiconductor giant reported better than expected third quarter sales.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia are off to a strong start this week. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose by 2.2 per cent to 50,367 points, breaking through the 50,000-point mark for the first time. In Seoul (+2.2%), the Kospi climbed above the 4,000-point level for the first time.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the session. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 3.995 percent.

Analysis
HSBC downgrades Kering to Hold (Buy) – Target EUR 370 (335)
UBS raises Flatexdegiro to EUR 40 (36.50) – Buy
Bank of America downgrades Teamviewer to EUR 15.20 (16.30) – Buy

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